Hi,

I wonder if anyone could tell me their opinion on this damage to my mother's sugar maple tree. We did not even know it was there until the bark fell off! The bark had grown over what appeared to be an old scar, about 3 feet tall and 6-8 inches wide, that starts near the base of the tree. Ants made a nest behind the bark but the nest must have gotten wet and fell out with part of the bark. Now we see this huge scar to the heart of the tree behind the bark. It must have been there for years. It appears to have grown over with some scarring but never completely closed over the heart of the tree.

They have only lived in the house 5 years so whatever happened was before then.

I cleaned out the ants and notice a small bit of mold growing in there but now it gets air and light. I haven't done anything else until I hear from an expert. I might add, the tree is quite healthy looking and appears to be at least 30-40 years old. I will do my best to add the pictures to this but I don't usually have good luck with that. I may need to email them to you if you are interested. I'd love to know everyone's opinion on what I should do, if anything, to help the tree. Is it going to die after all this time?